10 Best Designer Secrets from the Experts
04/20/2012My House Beautiful magazine just arrived and this month they are featuring 101 Tips from from the Experts. I love read little ‘best tips’ from designers because I always learn something. These are my favourite 10 Best Designer Secrets from the Experts: 1. Once you’ve used a fabric in a room, never use it anywhere…
Pure Painters Paint Better Doors
04/18/2012source In my new house I’ll be replacing the casings and baseboards but leaving the doors. They have curvy tops but that’s not a deal breaker. And, once they are painted, they will not be noticeable to anyone but me. Replacing them would fall into the realm of over-renovating, if you are doing updates, you need…
Cloverdale Paint Party on Elizabeth Avenue
04/16/2012Today we took possession of our new (to us) rancher in Yarrow. It will still be about 6 weeks before we move in. The name of our street is Elizabeth Avenue (my sister in Yarrow is Elizabeth). I love it! Don’t you agree that the name of the street you live on is important? Now…
Knowing your Options Helps you Move Forward
04/15/2012The biggest problem with renovations is deciding exactly what to do in any given situation. There are so many questions to resolve. Here are a few my lovely client in Dallas had when analyzing her kitchen.
1. Should I paint these cabinets or is the current colour okay?
A. The existing colour is definitely pink beige. I would paint them to update them but it depends on how you feel about them.
Maria’s Master Bedroom: Before & After
04/13/2012One thing I’m very happy about is that my new house will accommodate all the furniture I have bought for this townhouse over the past two years. This is the last room in my house tour that you’ve seen for the past couple weeks. Photography by Jennifer Houghton I bought this bed from Martha Stewart…
Trying to update your kitchen with stained wood cabinets can be challenging. But, I’ve got a few simple tips to help you choose the best backsplash colour. Well, you all know that my favourite kitchen is white. However, I got lots of questions from readers who need help choosing a backsplash for wood cabinetry –…
Ten Best Front Door Colours for your House
04/09/2012Changing your front door colour is a relatively easy project that offers a dramatic impact on your home’s curb appeal. Here are the 10 best front door colours for your house. Front doors should be an accent colour. In other words, they should be a strong, dramatic, bold shade. Colour is always the timeless choice….
Why be the Same when you can be Different? (source) Do you bring toys when you take your kids on vacation? Well you might not know that there are companies that will deliver anything child related right to your hotel and it’s not expensive! Elizabeth and Bill always rent a box of toys from here…
I was having a conversation with a friend who said she was resisting buying jeans in a bright colour because ‘Really Maria, won’t they be out next year’? Pink Peonies I wrote about this last year when Vogue talked about it in their September issue, so read that post if you missed it. Bottom line,…
Colour me Happy with Artist Ian Varney
04/04/2012Last year it was my birthday when my True Colour Expert Workshop was held in Toronto. As a special treat, I got to spend the day with Ian Varney in his studio. Ian uses wax paint which dries very quickly. Oil canvases take months to dry so this is a great medium to use.
One of the biggest mistakes designers and homeowners make when choosing colours is definitely around the world of undertones but next up is mixing clean and dirty colours. Yes you can break any rule but most of the time the combination of clean and dirty will make perfectly good tile or fabric look bad together….
Maria’s Happy Living & Dining Room
04/01/2012Well, you all saw it decorated for the holidays already, but now that I’m moving I wanted it photographed without the Christmas decor, so here are some new photos: Photography by Jennifer Houghton I can hardly wait to move to our new house, Jennifer said lighting my space for the camera was just the same…
Andrea Brooks attended one of my True Colour Expert Workshops last year and her beautiful home is being featured in At Home in Arkansas this month! Congrats Andrea, your home is stunning!
Maria’s Office Organization: Before & After
03/29/2012This is my current home office which many of you have seen, what you have not seen, is the closet – scary! In January my fabulous Design Associate, Irene, decided that I needed to get organized! When I first moved into my office I have no idea what came over me that I simply installed…
Undertones in Fabrics & Countertops
03/27/2012The system that I’ve created for distinguishing undertones is still evolving and each workshop I get better at teaching it to the designers, decorators and design enthusiasts who attend. For example, I have been trying to figure out an efficient way to work with fabrics, tiles and countertop samples to make it really experiential for participants. They already work with real paint chips on the first day and compare, compare, compare. Comparing colour is what I do with my clients throughout the entire consultation so that they understand why I’m recommending certain colours and it’s the first thing I teach to everyone.
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